Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing related to Batman. Any and all one-shots in this collection of one-shots were inspired by Charlotte A. Cavatica's lovely ideas from her Waiting on the Shingle, chapter seven, unless otherwise stated. Anyway, thanks to Ms. Cavatica for making it possible for plot bunnies to attack me. Please enjoy.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. And Charlotte, thanks for the praise over Edith. I was trying to do her character and you justice. –Ches.

#2

Market

She bit her lip and tried not to pay attention to how the men looked her over as she rode the train to work.

All the attention made her nervous since she didn't get why they stared at her.

She wasn't beautiful like Edith was or eye-catchingly confident and classically beautiful like Arianna. She was just plain old Alice, nothing remarkable about her.

Relief flooded her system when the train stopped and she was able to leave it.

A few of the men shot her wolfish smiles as she passed them.

Alice quickened her step and entered the building.

The men in the elevator looked her over with smiles that they kept hidden.

Alice exited the elevator when it stopped on her floor. She smiled when Arianna joined her as Alice passed the door to the stairwell Arianna had just exited.

"Morning, Alice. You look nice today. Planning on trying to get the attention of a certain genius?" Arianna teased.

Alice flushed pink. "Of course not, Ari." She sighed. "You know as well as I do that it would only come to nothing. Jervis could never like me; I'm just his secretary."

Arianna put an arm around Alice's shoulders. "I don't know about that, Alice. Maybe you need to just sit down with Jervis and have a talk. You never know, he may feel just as strongly as you do. One never knows unless they try."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Ari, you're reaching."

Arianna shrugged and adjusted her messenger bag strap. "Well, I can hope can't I? And besides, sometimes I think you both need eyes in the back of your heads so that you can see the expressions of the other."

"I still think you're reaching. I'll see you at lunch." Alice walked down the hallway towards her desk in the Nanotechnology Research Department.

Arianna pulled out a pocket watch from a pocket of her messenger bag and looked at it.

The hands were stuck at six o'clock, even though she shook it hard a couple times.

She glanced down toward the door to Jervis's office. "You'd better be worth this, Hatter. I have other things I could be doing right now. Tarts don't disappear by themselves." she muttered before continuing on to her station.

*~*~*~*

Alice was returning to her desk after lunch with some papers Jervis had requested from some obscure department dealing with the brain and its regions when she ran into Jack Bowerby.

"Hey there, gorgeous. Heading back from lunch?" he questioned with a sly grin.

"Yes, Mr. Bowerby. Please excuse me. I have to take these to Mr. Tetch." She tried to slip past him.

He moved into her path. "I'm sure Jervis can wait a couple more minutes for those papers. How about you and I go get a cup of coffee after work?" He looked her over with a wider and sickly inviting smile.

Arianna walked up, her own arms filled with papers. She'd heard Bowerby's voice and decided to help Alice out. "There you are, Alice. Mr. Tetch asked if I'd seen you, and I told him you were getting those papers for him. He's waiting in his office for them."

Alice sent her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Ari. Excuse me, Mr. Bowerby. I need to get these to Mr. Tetch." She hurried past him.

Bowerby grinned at Arianna. "How about you and I get a drink after work, Miss Fields?"

Arianna grinned wickedly. "Sorry, Mr. Bowerby, my boyfriend wouldn't like it. He'd feel like he'd have to punch your lights out, and trust me, he hits hard enough to break a punching bag. And Alice has a dinner date with me and him tonight, so she can't join you either. Good day, Mr. Bowerby." She walked off.

Bowerby shrugged and went off to find someone else.

*~*~*~*

Alice knocked on the door to Jervis's office.

He opened the door and smiled at her. "There you are, Alice. Miss Fields said that you had gone to get those papers I needed."

She smiled back. "Here you go, Jervis." She gave the papers to him.

His smile grew wider.

"Thank you, Alice. Would you care for a cup of tea?" He turned to pour a cup for her.

"Absolutely." She took the teacup he handed her and sipped it.

Jervis hummed softly as he pursued the papers.

Alice felt her mood lift and found herself humming along.

Jervis grinned at her.

She grinned back, finished her tea, and went to her desk. She always felt so much at ease around Jervis.

He was her White Knight.

When other men looked at her, she felt like a slice of beef –when he looked at her, she felt like a queen.

If only I could be his queen… Alice sighed as she began typing.